Explaining Changes in the Union Mark-up for Male Manual Workers in Great Britain, 1953-83

Michael Beenstock () and Chris Whitbread

No 158, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Layard, Metcalf and Nickell have formed annual estimates of the union mark-up for unskilled males in the United Kingdom manufacturing sector over the period 1951-1983. We critically assess their estimates as an index of union power and propose a number of hypotheses that determine the union mark-up in both cyclical and secular contexts. We use their mark-up estimates to test these hypotheses. We find that the mark-up is anti-cyclical and is secularly influenced by the level of social security benefits. It tends to be higher under Conservative administrations and it varies directly with the density of union membership. It does not appear to depend on incomes policies.

Keywords: Incomes Policies; Labour Unions; Social Security; Unions; Workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987-03

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP158.asp (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:158

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP158.asp

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
Address: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG
Series data maintained by ().